Background: Combination of individual and group work with concrete design elements.

Goal: Good for working on design, construction and planning problems.

Approach: Consists of 5 phases:
1) Problem outline by the group leader.  2) Entry into idea phase, in which each participant sketches his or her solution idea and optionally draws or writes it down. In the following 3) Association phase, all idea sketches are hung up in a place visible to all (like in a gallery, hence the name) and discussed. The participants can inspire each other, but also exclude ideas as useless or recombine parts of different ideas. Re-entry into 4) Idea Formation Phase II, in which an individual re-evaluation of the remaining ideas takes place. Finally 5) Selection phase, in which the remaining, modified ideas are evaluated and sorted out for the last time in the group.

Advantage: very similar to the brainstorming method. Unsuitable approaches are identified early and replaced by suitable ones. Suitable for mixed teams of laymen and experts. Particularly effective for design problems, because the solutions presented are vividly illustrated and can be arranged in a meaningful way.

Disadvantage: High expenditure of time. Solution approaches developed in individual work are often not generally acceptable. Requires communication and design skills of participants.

Further link: https://www.designpilot.info/techniken/tool-300-galeriemethode/